Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Photo: Most of the stuff I carry. Not shown: MacBook (Forgot to unpack it), Phone and Access Card (in pockets already), lunch (in fridge) and Camera (being used to take the photo).

Do I really need all of this stuff? Well, I don't NEED all of it, but it's nice to have. This crap is all in my backpack though, and it makes me miss my panniers. I get sweaty back syndrome when it's above 50 degrees. In the colder weather, the extra back coverage is actually nice to have. This morning? Not so much.

Let's work our way down the 3 loosely-formed columns from left to right.

Anyhow, I had a nice, smooth ride in this morning. No psychotic and/or blind drivers trying to run me down. Nothing exciting at all. The DiNotte proved itself pretty well today. I switched it to the most annoying blink pattern once I got to Main, then slogged onward. The whole bike coffee club was out in full force again this morning.

After I was at work for a while, I got a text from Jeff, who lives a few blocks from my office. He'd picked up Leopard for me (thanks!) and I got it from him, then zipped around town a bit, putting on almost a mile to go 5 blocks to my HR office -- damn the one-way streets! I saw Michael, a fellow associate where I work who frequents the same Monday night ride I go on.

So yeah, I saw a bunch of friends today. It was a balmy 52 degrees when I took off from home, and the forecast for my ride home is in the 70's. The NWS observations have been showing wind in the single digits. It can stay that way as far as I'm concerned.

I hope for your sake that it was things like carrying a spare tube and tire levers, or perhaps a bike-specific multi-tool for impromptu road-side repairs. Perhaps carrying spare batteries and an extra bike lock is also a good idea.

I generally feel like I'm overloaded, but I really like having my Laptop and associated gadgets with me. The battery charger for my laptop is pretty large. earphones, the USB cable for my digital camera, the digital camera itself, and stuff like that are all mere convenience items. Many would scoff at me for carrying all this stuff.

I tried once carrying ONLY clothes on my rack, and no gadgets. No panniers or a backpack. Just the bare minimum. It didn't make me any faster, so I just decided to keep carrying the things I like.

o yes spare tube ,tools,levers,it's fuuny i was reading your achives,and saw a chain put thru a old tire tube.i made one lastnite.!!!!,we walk two miles at nite and i had rode the bike down to the track,and realized my old lock was to wimpy,so i went to lowes(i do not do homedepot due to Tony Stwart :>),spent $12 on a new set up......thanks...

(1) a master link chain (whatever your chain model or size), as I'm rough on chains and break them a few times a year. After using the needle nose pliers on the multitool to remove the mangled remnant link, I install the master link and I'm back on the road within a minute. It's tiny and fits in your patch kit container.

(2) a small roll of duct tape - h/w stores sell the little roll that fits in your palm. Handy for mostly non-bike repairs, have used it on cuts & scrapes until I get to where I'm going. I put the roll into the toe section of an old sock, as the adhesive on the edges can mung up whatever other gear it's riding with over time.

The Park MTB-3 (blue thing in the photo) actually has almost everything I need except for a pair of pliers. It has integrated tire levers, a pedal wrench, chain tool, several box-ends, a knife, full set of spoke wrenches, and all the allen wrenches I'd need to do anything to my bike on the roadside. It's come in handy both for me and for "Stranded" cyclists I've run across on my commutes. It's even come to the rescue on a few group rides.

The Gerber is more for other things, as I work on large computers for a living (mostly software, but I'm always prepared for hardware work), and I have several other hobbies which are made easier when I have some tools on my hip.

Martin, DiNotte Lighting's website is www.dinottelighting.com. Look for some more on DiNotte from me in the near future. And no, I don't have any clue why they capitalize the N in the middle of their name. Maybe it's like NyQuil.

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